Kurt knew it was odd when Blaine became sick in the middle of the summer. Flu season was October to February, and it was the middle of June and Blaine apparently was getting the flu- for the second time that year.
It started when they first woke up. Kurt had to work at Vogue all day, and he had to be at work an hour earlier than Blaine. By the time Kurt was ready to walk out the door, he went back to the bedroom to wake up his boyfriend.
"Le'me alone," Blaine grumbled, turning over onto his stomach. Kurt thought that was strange. Blaine normally woke up just fine. Kurt personally didn't see how he could hop right out of bed in the mornings. Kurt required at least half an hour to fully wake up before he got up to get dressed.
"You're going to be late if you don't get up," Kurt warned. "Come on. I already made coffee."
"No," Blaine moaned. "Don't feel good." Kurt frowned and felt his forehead. He was running a little bit of a fever, but he didn't feel too hot. Kurt sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his back, trying to get Blaine to talk to him.
"Where's it hurt?" he asked softly.
"Head, neck, 'nd m' stomach," Blaine mumbled. Kurt looked at his watch. He was going to be late if he didn't leave.
"Listen. I have to go to work, but I'll see about coming home at lunch, okay? For now I'll leave you some Tylenol and ginger ale. When I get home I'll cook you some homemade chicken soup. Can you make it four hours on your own?" he asked. Blaine shook his head.
"Stay with me," he pleaded weakly. Kurt bent over and kissed his warm cheek. Blaine got clingy when he was sick.
"I have to go to work, honey. I'll be home in just a little bit. Try to go back to sleep. I'll get your medicine and something to eat." Kurt got up and went into the kitchen. He grabbed the Tylenol bottle form the medicine cabinet and poured him some ginger ale into a cup, then made him some oatmeal in the microwave.
"Here you go," he said as he returned to the bedroom with everything. He set it all on his nightstand and gave him another kiss. "I made you some oatmeal and got you some ginger ale for your stomach. I'll be home soon. I love you. Call me if you need anything." Blaine nodded stiffly and his mouth fell open a little. Kurt covered him up with the comforter before leaving for work.
He texted Blaine at 9:30 to see how he was doing, but didn't get a reply. Kurt wasn't surprised; he just figured he was sleeping, and decided to leave him alone. Hopefully he would be feeling at least a little better before he got home.
After he convinced Isabelle to let him leave at noon, he called Blaine on his way home. He didn't answer, but Kurt knew he was resting. He went straight home and kicked his shoes off in the living room before he went to check on his boyfriend.
He looked about a hundred times worse from that morning. His skin was pale gray, he was sweating like mad, and trembling in his sleep. Kurt knew he had to wake him up.
"Blaine? Blaine, honey, I'm home," he told him. "Open your eyes." Blaine woke up suddenly and his eyes darted around the room quickly. Kurt stroked his hair back and became even more concerned. He wasn't just fever-warm anymore, he was hot. But he didn't want to concern Blaine, so he didn't say anything. "How are you feeling?" Blaine shook his head.
"Hurts," he moaned. "I threw up." Blaine curled up on his side and shivered. Kurt didn't know what had happened that he got so much sicker in just a few hours. With it being the middle of summer, he was beginning to get worried that it was something worse than the flu. He gently helped Blaine sit up and then leaned him against the headboard of the bed.
"Sit tight for one minute," Kurt told him. "I'm gonna check your temperature." Blaine struggled to keep his eyes open, and Kurt quickly left and came back with their digital thermometer. Kurt turned it on and held it under his tongue until it beeped. Blaine winced and covered his ears at the tiny noise it made.
It was 103.4. Kurt didn't want to alarm him by telling him that it was that high, so he kept his mouth shut. Blaine hadn't eaten any of his oatmeal or drank any of his ginger ale, so Kurt made him take some Tylenol and drink a little bit.
"Don' make me eat," he mumbled. "Not hungry." Kurt wasn't going to force him to eat. If he'd already thrown up he was probably just going to do it again if he tried to eat.
"Do you want to lie down?" Kurt asked. Blaine leaned forwards, and Kurt helped rearrange his pillows so he was on his back. "Are you hot?" Blaine shook his head and tugged limply at the covers. Kurt tucked him in, even though he wasn't sure it was such a good idea with how high his fever was getting.
Kurt sat with him, waiting patiently for the Tylenol to kick in. Hopefully Blaine could take a nap and let his fever come down some. Kurt wished he would eat, but he didn't want him to throw up again. That would only lead to dehydration, which would lead to a trip to the emergency room. Blaine didn't seem interested in watching TV or even talking. For the most part he just nodded or shook his head when Kurt asked him a question.
Finally, he began to snore and Kurt knew he was asleep. He turned on the ceiling fan to cool him off and left him alone so he could eat some lunch. He checked in on him just to make sure he was still okay, and he was sound asleep, thankfully. Kurt watched TV and did the dishes while he waited for him to wake up.
Blaine slept for four hours, and he started to stir while Kurt was putting away laundry in their room. Kurt stood over him as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Kurt," he said. His voice sounded scratchy.
"Hey," Kurt said. "Did you sleep good?" Blaine shrugged his shoulders and blinked slowly.
"What time… what time is it?" he asked. Kurt pulled his phone out from his pocket and checked the screen for the time.
"It's 5:13. How do you feel?" he asked. Blaine shook his head slowly and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Ow," he moaned, covering his face with his arm. "Head. Feel sick." Kurt reached under his nightstand and grabbed his trashcan, just in case.
"It's okay," Kurt soothed, getting him to take another drink. "It'll pass. Do you need me to get you anything?" Blaine shook his head and moaned in pain. Kurt hated seeing him so miserable, but he wasn't sure what to do. Blaine turned onto his side and held his head over the edge of the bed. Kurt picked up the trashcan and held it for him as he threw up. He sounded awful- like he was going to pass out from the force of it.
Kurt helplessly stood by him and kept his hand on Blaine's back. He heaved until there was nothing left in his stomach to come back up, and then he fell back onto the bed. His skin was so pale he was almost translucent, and Blaine was normally so tanned and dark. He was breathing heavily, but not moving other than his chest rising and falling. Kurt went to the kitchen and poured him some water, then dampened a washcloth to clean up his face.
"Blaine? Sit up, honey," Kurt said softly. "Here, I'll help you. I got you a drink, and we'll get you cleaned up." Kurt put his hand behind Blaine's neck so he could help him up, but his boyfriend cried out in pain. Kurt wasn't sure what he had done, so he laid him down and took a step back.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, tears filling his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt him. He took Blaine's clammy hand and tried not to cry in front of him.
"Neck… hurts," he hissed, clenching his teeth together. Kurt brushed his sweaty curls back with his fingers and ran the washcloth over his face.
"It's okay," Kurt said, sounding less and less confident that everything was actually alright. He managed to get Blaine sitting up, and he helped him take a drink and swallow more Tylenol. Blaine was sleepy and had no energy whatsoever. "Does your stomach feel better?"
"Head," he mumbled. "M' head hurts." Kurt didn't know what to do anymore. Tylenol didn't help, eating didn't help, and sleep didn't help. He decided to check his temperature again. If it was above 104 then he was going to call the doctor.
104.6. Kurt went back into the living room and slipped his shoes back on. He was going to skip the doctor and take him straight to the hospital. Something was really wrong with him, and he didn't want Blaine to suffer any more.
"Come here," Kurt said as he returned to the bedroom. "We're gonna go to the doctor." Blaine was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, so he didn't need to change. Getting Blaine up and to the edge of the bed was a struggle. He was like a limp rag in his arms.
"No. No!" he cried, bursting into tears. Blaine rarely cried, and that triggered the alarm bells in Kurt's head. He sat and rubbed his back and tried to calm him down. Blaine cried at the thought of going to the hospital, he cried because crying made his head hurt worse, and he cried because he didn't want to throw up again.
"It's okay, it's okay," Kurt repeated, getting emotional himself. "You're going to be okay. Come on, I'll help you walk." He managed to get Blaine to his feet, and he wrapped his arm around him securely. Kurt felt hot just touching him, and he couldn't imagine how Blaine was feeling.
Kurt didn't like driving the Prius, but it was that or a cab. He buckled Blaine into the seat and slowly made his way out of their parallel parking spot.
"Do you want heat or air?" he asked.
"Heat," Blaine murmured, leaning his head back. Kurt turned on the heat, even though Blaine was burning up and it was the middle of June. It didn't matter.
The drive to the hospital seemed to take ages. Thankfully Blaine didn't throw up in the car, but he seemed in agony with his headache. Kurt held his hand and squeezed his knee reassuringly, but there was only so much he could do while he was driving.
Kurt was relieved when they made it to the hospital. He didn't want to drop Blaine off at the door since he couldn't really walk, but the closest spot was so far away. He decided to park in the spot before anyone else could, and he ended up half-carrying him inside. Kurt went up to the window by the receptionist's desk and signed him in. Blaine had been to the ER there before, so Kurt didn't need to fill out a lot if information; just insurance and the reason for his visit.
Apparently the symptoms Kurt wrote down alarmed the doctors, because they didn't even have to wait ten minutes. The ER waiting room wasn't too terribly crowded, but Kurt was surprised they got seen so quickly.
Kurt laid Blaine up on the triage exam table and held his hand while the nurse asked several questions.
"Honey, when did you start to feel sick?" she asked him, sticking her thermometer in his ear.
"S'morning," Blaine said, his voice thick. "Hurts."
"What hurts?" she wrote down his temperature reading on his chart, but didn't say what it was out loud.
"Head, neck," he muttered.
"He's been throwing up all day," Kurt added. The nurse checked his blood pressure, pulse, heart, and lungs. Kurt held Blaine's hand and talked him through it all. Blaine was getting upset just from the nurse's hands being all over him, but once she was done he managed to relax, at least a little bit.
"Can you turn your head and move your neck?" the nurse asked him. Kurt thought that was an odd request, but Blaine had a hard time with it, especially trying to lean his head forward. He cried out in pain and reached for Kurt's hand again. Kurt looked down at him and just felt awful. He was so miserable and in so much pain, and he couldn't help. If only the doctors could hurry up and fix him.
"I'm going to start him on an IV, and then we're going to have to run a few tests on him," she told Kurt. "I'll be right back." Kurt nodded and sat down so Blaine could see him easier. He wasn't sure what the nurse mean by "tests". That was a broad term, and it could be anything from drawing blood to an MRI.
"C'we go home?" his boyfriend asked, barely holding his eyes open.
"Soon, baby. We'll go home really soon." Kurt knew that probably wasn't the case, but it made him calmer.
The nurse returned quickly and made Blaine change into a papery hospital gown. He was too weak, so Kurt did most of the work for him. He hid in Kurt's arms while she started the IV in the crook of his elbow. Kurt tried to imagine how he felt; he didn't do well with needles at all. Blaine seemed too worn out to care, but he still let out a whimper of pain.
"What tests do you need to do?" Kurt asked. He didn't want them hurting Blaine.
"We're going to do a spinal tap, and depending on the results from that we may draw some blood." Kurt frowned. He wasn't sure what all it entailed, but it sounded painful.
The nurse left again to get everything ready, and she returned with a doctor and two other nurses behind her. Kurt didn't think it needed four people in there, but he didn't focus on them. He kept his eyes locked on Blaine, and tried to help him through the procedure. They made him curl his knees up to his chest, and Kurt helped him get relatively comfortable.
"It's gonna be okay," he told him. "Hold onto my hand, and it'll be over in just a few minutes." Blaine didn't seem phased by it until the needle actually went into his back. He let out a horrible cry and a deep moan. Kurt held him to get him to stay still and did his best to soothe him. He stroked his hair and let him squeeze his hands and did everything he could.
After the initial shock of a needle going into his back, Kurt got him calmed down. It ended after about five minutes, and the doctor handed off a tube with clear fluid in it to one of the nurses. They let him roll back onto his back, and they started another IV in him.
Once the room was cleared out, Blaine turned his head slowly to face Kurt.
"How are you doing, love?" he asked him. Blaine shrugged slowly, his eyes closed.
"Tired," he murmured. Kurt didn't doubt it. At least he wasn't throwing up anymore. Whatever was in his IVs seemed to be starting to work.
"You should try and sleep. I'll stay right here with you," Kurt promised him. "You'll be feeling better when you wake up." Blaine didn't object. Kurt knew he had to be drained. There wasn't a blanket on the bed, but Blaine didn't need it. Kurt continued to hold his hand and watch over him. "I love you."
Blaine didn't respond. Kurt didn't mind, though. The only thing that mattered was that he was resting. They were alone for awhile, until the doctor returned and took Kurt out into the hall.
"What's wrong with him?" he asked, desperate for an answer. The doctor put his glasses on and closed Blaine's chart.
"He had bacterial meningitis. All of his symptoms pointed towards it, and the spinal tap just confirmed it." Kurt didn't know what that meant. What was meningitis? Was it deadly? Would Blaine be okay? A million questions filled his mind.
"He's going to have to be admitted for a few days," the doctor went on. "You brought him in pretty early, so he should be just fine. In a minute here we'll move him up to a new room and start him on some antibiotics. He'll be contagious for a few days, so you're going to have to take precautions so you don't get sick yourself."
Kurt nodded quickly, willing to do anything to get to be with Blaine. The doctor led him back into the room where Blaine was still sleeping, and the nurse joined them. They moved him up a few floors to a bigger room and the nurse stuck two more IVs in his hand. Blaine didn't even stir.
Kurt hoped he would rest all night, but his boyfriend began to wake up just three hours later. It was almost eleven at night.
"Kurt," Blaine mumbled. "Kurt?" Kurt flicked on a lamp so Blaine could see him.
"I'm here," he reassured him. "I'm right here. How are you feeling?" Blaine seemed to be talking clearer and wasn't as sleepy and in pain as before.
"I feel… weird. Can we go home?" he asked. Kurt wished he could take him home. The hospital wasn't fun for either of them.
"Not yet," he told him. "You have meningitis. You're gonna stay here for a few days." Blaine frowned and looked upset, but he didn't cry. "You're gonna be okay, though. I get to stay overnight with you. Does your head still hurt?" Blaine nodded.
"M' neck's better, though." Kurt kissed his forehead and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. He was still burning up, but the nurse said he should be feeling a little better after a good night sleep.
"It'll feel better in the morning," he promised. "Can you go back to sleep?"
"'m tired," Blaine murmured. "Stay with me?" Kurt wasn't planning on leaving him. Sleeping at home without Blaine didn't sound enjoyable at all, and if Kurt were the sick one he wouldn't want to be left alone in the hospital.
"I'm gonna stay," he told him. "I love you."
"Love you, too," Blaine said, dozing off. Kurt watched him as he quickly drifted off to sleep, but he wasn't planning on joining him anytime soon. After the day they had had, he was just grateful everything would be okay. The doctor explained the seriousness of the disease, but they all seemed optimistic about his recovery.
Kurt stayed awake with him until he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer. There was a couch in the room, but he wasn't able to be right next to him. He gave Blaine a kiss on the hand and then laid down, content with sleeping on a lumpy hospital couch if it meant being with Blaine.
Author's Notes:
Here is some sick Blaine to start your morning off with. Ugh I just love him so much. I'm leaving today, so I won't post anything until Tuesday afternoon, but in the meantime I posted a chapter of a new story I'm working on! I'm not sure if I want to continue it, so go read it and review it so I'll know if people are liking it. If no one likes it I'll just leave it, but if people want more then I'll post a new chapter when I get back!